With the rapid growth of smart watches, OLED has once again found an opportunity to break out, and the demand for ITO targets, which are key materials for the production of OLED touch screens, will also grow steadily. The demand for rare metals, such as indium, has long been optimistic.

In the recent OLED market report released by DisplaySearch, a market research organization, a group of figures has attracted widespread attention. According to the report, in the first quarter of this year, shipments of OLED panels for smart watches (including PMOLEDs and passive OLEDs) increased significantly to 4.98 million units, exceeding the 4.76 million units for the full year last year, and 1.67 million over the same period for smart watch LCD panels. The film is nearly 200% higher.

Among the 4.98 million films, LG Display, a leading company, shipped 3.55 million tablets, and its market share reached an overwhelming 71%. The rapid growth of smart watches adds an important weight to OLED acceleration.

People in the industry believe that the smart watch market and the TV market will advance and complement each other. With the promotion of dual engines, the speed of OLED adoption may exceed the previous expectations. OLEDs, also known as organic light-emitting diodes, have self-luminous characteristics. They use a very thin organic material coating and a glass substrate. When an electric current passes through, these organic materials emit light, and the OLED display screen has a large viewing angle and can save energy. Electric energy.

The OLED panel is made by sputtering thin and transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) with semiconductor characteristics onto the glass to form a transparent conductive film connected to the positive electrode of the power supply, and another metal cathode to encapsulate it. The structure of the sandwich. Indium tin oxide is a compound of indium oxide and tin oxide. Its main characteristics are electrical conduction and optical transparency.

Indium metal is a dilute metal and is mainly derived from the by-products of lead and zinc smelting. After refining, indium ingots are formed. Indium ingots are mainly used for the production of ITO targets (for the production of liquid crystal displays and flat screens) because of their light permeability and conductivity, which is the main consumption field of indium ingots and accounts for 70% of global indium consumption. In addition, indium is also widely used in the electronics industry, aerospace, alloy manufacturing, solar cell new materials and other high-tech fields. China's indium reserves rank first in the world, and the country attaches great importance to its collection and storage. The Pan-Asian Nonferrous Metals Exchange focused on spot trading and commercial storage of rare metals. Since its inception, it has listed metallic indium as a listed product. Today, its inventory has reached more than 3,600 tons, equivalent to more than five years in the world. Yield. It can be predicted that in the future, with the continuous increase in demand for OLED panels, Pan Asia will become an important supplier of indium raw materials and will play a role as a market stabilizer.

At present, the market for smart watches has just opened, and the growth potential is still huge. The outbreak of the smart watch market will drive more wearable devices and smart home appliances to select OLED panels. Small and medium-sized OLED panels may usher in more opportunities. At the same time, as the main raw material of OLED, rare metal indium will usher in a new upsurge of consumption and investment. By then, relying on sufficient indium inventory and leading position in the rare metals industry, the Pan-Asian Nonferrous Metals Exchange will gradually Infiltrate the role of the platform into the downstream industry.